In co-operation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Yaounde the CCMN - Cameroon Community Media Network organised a workshop for over 20 journalists from 7 Cameroonian regions on peace and electoral journalism. This workshop is the kick-off event of Prof Steven Youngbloods visit to Cameroon to start a discussion on how Cameroonian media can prevent violence and hate speech before, during and after the Cameroonian elections in 2018.

Prof Steven Youngblood, Director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University in Parkville Missouri/US, is on a 2-week visit to Cameroon from 16 – 29 July 2017. During this time Steven Youngblood and the CCMN will organise 4 workshops and 7 in-house trainings for up to 150 journalists to discuss and exchangeon the potential of peace journalism ahead of the up-coming Presidential, National and Council elections in 2018.

The first event in this series of training activities is a workshop in Yaounde in co-operation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) is the oldest political foundation in Germany – founded in 1925. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Cameroon have worked since 1988 on the consolidation of democracy and civil society in Cameroon, fight against corruption, the mobilization of women and the youth, the defense of the human rights and the consolidation of independent media.

Over 20 print, radio, TV and online journalists from 7 Cameroonian regions exchanged for 3 days on peace journalism, electoral reporting and the role of media to prevent violence before, during and after the elections in Cameroon in 2018.

Prof Youngblood described different possible application fields of peace journalism from reporting on refugees and migration, coverage of terrorism and civil unrest and of course implications in the context of elections.

After Prof Youngblood’s theoretical input and practice examples of peace and electoral reporting from other contexts like Kenya, Uganda or the USA the participants produced their own story with a focus on reconciliation and emphasis on a perspective from a peace journalism approach.

You can have a look at one of the pieces produced during the workshop

A radio programme on the workshop with Prof Steven Youngblood, the organiser Alexander Vojvoda and participants. Broadcasted 19 July 2017

ChateauNews.com produced an article on the workshop with the title “Le journalisme et la paix, conflit ou convergence de regard?” On short quote from the article

The CCMN - Cameroon Community Media Network has 22 members and over 35 regularly contributing journalists. The CCMN focuses on the development of the Community Media Sector in Cameroon and the establishment of conflict-sensitive journalism as alternative to conventional reporting.